Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The earlier and less corrupt form of gantlet.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete See gantlet.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The military punishment known as running the gauntlet

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Some said, he ought to be tied neck and heels; others that he deserved to run the gantlope; and the serjeant shook his cane at him, and wished he had him under his command, swearing heartily he would make an example of him.

    The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling 2004

  • Some said, he ought to be tied neck and heels; others that he deserved to run the gantlope; and the serjeant shook his cane at him, and wished he had him under his command, swearing heartily he would make an example of him.

    XI. The Adventure of a Company of Soldiers. Book VII 1917

  • Some said, he ought to be tied neck and heels; others that he deserved to run the gantlope; and the serjeant shook his cane at him, and wished he had him under his command, swearing heartily he would make an example of him.

    History of Tom Jones, a Foundling Henry Fielding 1730

Comments

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  • What a gantlope would she run, when I had done with her, among a dozen of her own pitiless sex...

    Lovelace to Belford, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

    December 13, 2007

  • A form of gauntlet.

    December 13, 2007

  • See also gauntelope.

    December 13, 2007

  • "... vulgarly pronounced gantlet, a race which a criminal is sentenced to run in a vessel of war, as a punishment for felony, or some other heinous offense.

    "To Run the Gantlet, is to go through the above punishment, which is executed in the following manner:—the whole ship's crew is disposed in two rows, standing face to face on both sides of the deck, so as to form a lane, whereby to go forward on one side, and return aft on the other; each person being furnished with a small twisted cord, called a knittle, having two or three knots upon it; the delinquent is then stripped naked above the waist, and ordered to pass forward between the two rows of men on one side, and aft on the other side, a certain number of times, rarely exceeding three; during which every person gives him stripes as he runs along; he is preceded by the master-at-arms, having a drawn cutlass under his arm, with the point behind him. In his passage through this painful ordeal he is sometimes tripped up and very severely handled while incapable of proceeding. This punishment is seldom inflicted, except for such crimes as will naturally excite a general antipathy amongst the seamen."

    Falconer's New Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1816), 165

    See also gauntlet, run the gauntelope, and run the gauntlet.

    October 13, 2008